We’ve got you covered! In our genealogy room, we have tons of materials for you to look through in your search for answers. Besides shelves full of history books and genealogy books, our collection includes two microfilm machines with reels of local newspapers, local records, genealogy magazines to flip through, and an index to plots in the Bristow City Cemetery. Click on the tabs below to see a rundown of what’s available at the library and for links to helpful genealogy databases from around the country!
The genealogy room is open all day during library hours. Just please sign in on the clipboard by the door to show that you were here! By showing how many people use our room and materials, we can get funding to keep everything running.
New to genealogy?
If you’re just getting started and are not quite sure what to look for, come in and our genealogy worker will help you out! Just check the schedule below to see when she’s in (it is subject to change every now and then, so please check before you come for help). You can also come by during one of the Genealogy Society’s meetings and see if you want to join them to get ideas for your research and to ask questions.
Can’t come in but need information?
If you live too far away or are busy all of the time, you can still request information. You can call us or send an email to ask your questions. If you are requesting an obituary, please download a request form below and send it to us through email or snail mail. You can also call us, you’ll just have to give us the same information over the phone.
*NEW* Check out our Digital Collections!
We are digitizing our resources for use outside of the library! Take a look every week to see what’s new at Bristow Library Digital Collections. Starting with the yearbooks, we plan on adding records every Saturday!
Genealogy Society Meetings *Meetings are Postponed until further notice
1st Thursday of Every Month
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Call the Bristow Library at (918) 367-6562 or email us at joneslibrarybristow@gmail.com for more information.
Free Access to Ancestry.com
Only available on library computers
Check out a computer and start searching for records! Our subscription to the library edition of Ancestry.com includes both nation-wide and world-wide records, printable charts and forms, and a learning center with useful tips and information.
Microfilm
Scroll through over 100 years of Bristow newspapers and find obituaries, wedding announcements, birth announcements, advertisements and so much more!
Also available are a few newspapers from Depew, Oilton, and Sapulpa, as well as some select US Federal Censuses.
Article Citation: April 1, 1915 – The Bristow Record
Yearbooks
Only viewable on request
Come in and flip through our collection of yearbooks from Bristow High School! The earliest yearbooks we have are from 1924 and 1927, way back when the annual was called The Wildcatter instead of The Log!
You never know what you will find!
Cemetery Records
Need help locating a grave in the Bristow City Cemetery? We can help you out!
Come in and tell us the deceased relative’s name and we’ll look them up in the cemetery’s lot index and pinpoint the location on a map for you.
Obituaries
If you’re having trouble finding an obituary or just don’t know how to get started, we have a great resource that can help. In our collection, we have 45 binders full of obituary transcriptions, all handwritten by a wonderful local lady. The obituaries are organized in alphabetical order by surname, and for some articles, there are footnotes about their lives and who they were!
Phone Books
Not sure if an ancestor lived in the Bristow area way back when? You might be able to find their name in an old directory. We have copies of directories from 1925 to 1939 and some original phonebooks from 1966 to 1997.
Local History
Looking for information about local history in general? Well you’re in luck!
In our Genealogy Room, you can find books and binders FULL of information!
Our collection includes:
C. H. Purdy Diary A diary chronicling the happenings in the early days of Bristow between 1898 and 1915
Company G – National Guard A compilation of newspaper articles regarding the local National Guard unit from 1946 to 1959.
Local Family Histories Some families in the area have donated binders full of their stories, pictures, and research. Maybe you’ll find a relative among them!
County Histories We have county and city history books from across the state! Our Creek County books include Drumright, Shamrock, and Sapulpa.
AND SO MUCH MORE!!!
Bristow Genealogy Society
Need help finding information or hit a brick wall? The Genealogy Society might be able to help!
You can come to a meeting and ask your questions. You may decide to join!
Visit the Train Depot Museum and explore the history of our town! They also have records and pictures to look at if you ask for help with your research.
Oral Histories transcribed and digitized by the Bristow Historical Society
FREE
Bristow Maps and Phone Directories
Early day maps and phone directories digitized by the Bristow Historical Society
FREE
Oklahoma State Vital Records Index
Search Oklahoma death and birth records.
FREE
Oklahoma Digital Prairie
Search through the Oklahoma State Archives and look through assorted documents, pictures, yearbooks, and other records
FREE
Oklahoma Gateway
Search through pictures, documents, newspapers, and maps in the Oklahoma State Historical Society’s Database
FREE
Oklahoma State Historical Society Research Center
Databases include indexes to multiple censuses, indexes, and more
FREE
Oklahoma State Courts Network Database
Search through court records by county and courthouses. These include some wills, probate, marriage, and other records.
FREE
On Demand Court Records
Search through Oklahoma court records by county and courthouses. These include some wills, probate, marriage, and other records. (this is a second version of OSCN)
FREE
Oklahoma Climatological Survey – Past & Local Data
Click on links to look at past weather data. This can be helpful for finding out what the weather was like on a certain day if you are doing background research on an ancestor’s life.
FREE
Oklahoma State Digital Archives
Search through some of OSU’s Archives. It includes oral histories from across the state, yearbooks, pictures, and other information.
FREE
Oklahoma State Digital Archives – Oklahoma Maps
Includes WPA maps of townships with labled farms and land owners along with other historical maps.
FREE
Links for Nation-wide Sources
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Ancestry
Search through millions of records from across the US and the world, depending on subscription. Is also availiable for free on library computers
Paid Subscription
FamilySearch
This is a free database with millions of records, most of which you have to skim through yourself, but it has more and different records than Ancestry. Used in combination, you can find a ton of information from these two sites.
Free Subscription
US National Archives Research Database
Search through the National Archives Database and skim through US Censuses, some military records, videos, pictures, and more
FREE
Soldiers & Sailors Database
National Park Service database to search for Civil War soldiers and sailors. It’s very helpful for finding clues about ancestors who served on either side.
FREE
The Official Federal Land Records Site
Search through the database using names or township, range, section, meridian, and state information to find maps and land patent information. This is great for finding out about where ancestors lived.
FREE
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Search through the digital collections and maybe find information on counties or states that ancestors lived in.
FREE
Chronicling America
Library of Congress project to digitize American newspapers from across the country into a searchable database.
FREE
Community History Archive Newspaper Directory
This is a collaboration between libraries across the country that digitize newspapers and put it in a searchable database. Filter through the directory and then click on the map pin of a newspaper you want to search.
FREE
Newspapers.com
Search through newspapers from all over the US. More are being uploaded daily.
Paid Subscription
Find A Grave
Search through cemetery graves for clues on where your ancestors are buried. These are updated by public users.
FREE
Search ABMC Burials and Memorials
Search for names of casualties from WWI to the Vietnam War that have been buried at overseas military cemeteries, memorials, or are listed on the Walls of the Missing.
FREE
Ellis Island Passenger Search
Search for passenger records for immigrant ancestors that passed through Ellis Island.
The Alabama Department of Archives & History digital collections database. This includes newspapers, historic records, pictures, and more.
FREE
ADAH – Explore Our Collections
ADAH Collections list with links to different databases and information. Databases include: Electronic Records Collections, Civil War Soldiers Database, 1867 Voter Registration Database, and World War I Goldstar Database
FREE
Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
Searchable database containing newspapers, books, historic records, and pictures.
FREE
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Arizona Genealogy Record Search
Search for Arizona Vital Records and view images of vital records.
FREE
National Park Service Mission 2000
Database for Pimeria Alta missions records in Arizona dating from the 1600s to mid-1800s in Southern Arizona and the Northern Sonora, Mexico. It contains records for deaths, births, baptisms, marriages, and other events.
FREE
Arizona Historical Digital Newspapers
Database of Arizona newspapers through the Arizona State Library.
FREE
Arizona Memory Project
Searchable collections of Arizona history including newspapers, oral histories, pictures, and more.
FREE
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Arkansas State Archives
This goes to the collections information page for the Arkansas State Archives. The page has links to regional collections (mostly from universities), of which some have viewable records.
FREE
Arkansas Death Certificate Search and Order Service
Searchable database for Arkansas death records between 1935 and 1961.
FREE
Arkansas Gravestone Photo Project
This is a database project to digitize cemeteries in Arkansas
FREE
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California Digital Newspaper Collection
Searchable database for newspapers in California
FREE
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Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection
Searchable collection of over 2 million historic newspapers from Colorado.
FREE
Plains to Peaks Historic Newspapers
A joint project between the Colorado Historic Newspapers Project and the Wyoming Newspapers Project to make one searchable database to find articles from both states.
FREE
Colorado State Archives
Searchable database for historical records in the Colorado State Archives
FREE
Denver Public Library’s Digital Collections
Searchable database containing historic records, pictures, maps, and more
FREE
Colorado Marriage Records 1858-1939
Link to the Denver Public Library’s Digital Collections database.
FREE
Colorado Gravestone Photo Project
Project to document cemeteries and headstones in Colorado
FREE
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Illinois State Archives Databases
A list of free, searchable databases from the Illinois State Archives. These include multiple death indexes, land records, veterans indexes, birth indexes, marriage indexes, case files, and more.
FREE
Illinois Digital Newspapers Collection
A project by the University of Illinois to digitize state newspapers into a searchable database.
FREE
Lawrence County Digital Newspapers
A searchable database for local newspapers through Community History Archive
FREE
Quincy Public Library Digital Newspapers
A searchable database for local newspapers from Quincy, Illinois
FREE
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Hoosier State Chronicles
A searchable database for Indiana newspapers, created by the Indiana Digital Historic Newspaper Program
FREE
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Iowa Culture – Newspapers
List of Iowa newspapers that are digitized and online, with links to each database.
FREE
Digital Archives of Southeast Iowa
Newspaper collection through Advantage-Preservation. It’s a searchable database containing newspapers from southeast Iowa.
FREE
Digital Archives of Monroe County Historical Society
Searchable database of newspapers from Monroe County
FREE
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Kansas State Historical Society
The research index for the KSHS with links to tons of searchable databases for Kansas history and genealogy.
FREE
Kansas Digital Newspapers
This is a link through the Kansas State Historical Society to view all Kansas newspapers that have been digitized with Newspapers.com for free.
FREE
Kansas Memory
A digital archive with historical records and information from all across Kansas. Very useful for background research about areas where ancestors lived.
FREE
Territorial Kansas Online, 1854-1861
Compilation of records from Territorial Kansas. Good for background research.
FREE
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Kentucky Digital Newspaper Program
A searchable database for Kentucky newspapers created by the University of Kentucky.
FREE
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Missouri Digital Heritage
A collection of databases and records through the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Library, and other institutions and organizations in Missouri.
FREE
Missouri Digital Newspaper Project
This is a list of links to Missouri newspapers that have been uploaded to Newspapers.com and Chronicalling America. With the Newspaper.com uploads, when you click on one, you are automatically taken to the Newspapers.com-Missouri site, and you can search the whole state for free.
FREE
Missouri Birth & Death Records Database, Pre-1910
Searchable databases for birth and death records before 1910.
FREE
Missouri Death Certificates, 1910 – 1970
This is a searchable database, with downloadable images of death certificates through Missouri Digital Heritage.
FREE
The Missouri Death Index
Search for names and death dates of people who have died between 1968 and 2015. This is good for finding relatives that you already know the date of death and/or name of.
FREE
Soldiers’ Records: War of 1812 – World War I
Searchable database of Missouri military records. Some have images attached to them.
FREE
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Nebraska Newspapers
Searchable database for digitized newspapers in Nebraska, created by the University of Nebraska.
FREE
History Nebraska
Link to the History Nebraska website, which has genealogy and historical resources for the state.
FREE
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New Mexico Digital Collections
Database for historical documents and pictures through the University of New Mexico
FREE
New Mexico Historical Newspapers
Searchable digital newspaper archive created by the University of New Mexico
FREE
Fray Angélico Chávez History Library Obituary Database
Searchable obituary database covering New Mexico newspapers from the 1860s to present, created by the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library.
FREE
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North Carolina Early Newspapers
Database through North Carolina State Archives to search in digitized newspapers from 1752-1898
FREE
North Carolina Newspapers
Database from the North Carolina State Archives to search through digitized newspapers from 1752-present
FREE
North Carolina Digital Collections
Joint project between the North Carolina State Archives and the North Carolina State Library to create a searchable database containing historic records, newspapers, pictures, and more.
FREE
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Ohio Memory
A Collaborative Program of the Ohio History Connection and the State Library of Ohio. It is a searchable database for Ohio history, including historic records, newspapers, pictures, and more.
FREE
Ohio Memory – Newspapers
Link to a list of Ohio Newspapers that have been digitized.
FREE
The Digital Shoebox Project
A collaboration between libraries in southeastern Ohio to make a searchable database with historic records from that area.
FREE
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Oregon Historic Newspapers
Searchable newspaper database from the University of Oregon
FREE
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The Portal to Texas History
Database for Texas History, much like our Oklahoma Gateway. It includes searchable newspapers, books, pictures, and more.
FREE
Texas Marriage Certificate Search
Database of Texas Marriage Records from 1966-2013
FREE
Texas Divorce Search
Database of Texas Divorce Records from 1966-2013
FREE
Courthouse Direct
Searchable court record database for Texas, California, and New Mexico.
FREE
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Utah Digital Newspapers
Searchable database for digital newspapers from Utah.
FREE
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Virginia Chronicle
The Library of Virginia’s database containing newspapers from all over the state.
FREE
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Plains to Peaks Historic Newspapers
A joint project between the Colorado Historic Newspapers Project and the Wyoming Newspapers Project to make one searchable database to find articles from both states.
